150A LiDAR development board delivers 5ns pulses

November 30, 2017 //
By Julien Happich

Using ultra-fast transition eGaN FETs from EPC, the 100V EPC9126HC is a 100V, 150 A high current pulsed laser diode driver evaluation board, supporting pulse widths as low as 5ns to drive lasers for high precision LiDAR systems.

The rapid transition capability of eGaN FETs provide power pulses to drive the laser up to ten times faster than an equivalent MOSFET, thus enhancing the overall performance of a LiDAR system. The EPC9126HC development board is primarily intended to drive laser diodes and features an EPC2001C ground-referenced eGaN FET driven by a Texas Instruments UCC27611 gate driver. The EPC2001C is a 100V maximum voltage device capable of current pulses up to 150A. The EPC9126HC can drive 75 A pulses into a high power triple junction laser diode with a pulse width as low as 5ns. The board includes multiple ultra-low inductance connection options for mounting laser diodes and can drive these via a discharging a capacitor (as shipped) or directly from a power bus. It does not include a laser diode, which must be supplied by the user to evaluate specific applications. The printed circuit board is designed to minimize the power loop inductance while maintaining mounting flexibility for the laser diode. It includes multiple on-board passive probes for voltages and discharge capacitor current measurement, and comes equipped with SMA connections for input and sensing designed for 50 Ω measurement systems.